Duma deputies consider Kyoto Protocol economically unacceptable for Russia

Deputies of the Russian Duma who participated Thursday in a debate on questions related to the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change have qualified the document as 'ineffective from the ecological perspective, and unacceptable from the point of view of the economic development of Russia.' As reported by a Rosbalt correspondent, debates were organized by the Duma's environmental, economic and international affairs committees.

In the recommendations issued on the basis of the discussions, a range of negative consequences for Russia were cited in the event of the protocol's ratification. 'There is a risk that the Kyoto Protocol could be used to restrict Russia's economic growth,' according to the document. 'At present, the European Union is leading an initiative to change the Kyoto Protocol so as to tighten restrictions on the emission of greenhouse gases (reduce them by a third), which would lead to the necessity of buying quotas, and not trading in them.'

In addition, according to the recommendations, Russia is actually an ecological donor nation: the level of absorption of CO2 in Russia is five times greater than its emissions, at the same time that in the countries of the European Union the exact opposite is true. In the opinion of delegates, 'Russia's contribution to the maintenance of the planet's ecological balance has global significance, deserves international recognition and demands commensurate compensation mechanisms, which need to be reflected in any agreements on the Framework Convention on Climate Change.'

Participants recommended that the Russian government undertake a comprehensive analysis of the problems associated with global climate change, and to propose new international and legal approaches to their resolution.